Robot 6

An amusing little manga with overtones of burnt toast

Journalists love to write about the Japanese manga series Kami no Shizuku (Drops of the Gods), because it’s about wine and family drama, and who doesn’t like that combination? Also, the series has apparently given wine a big boost in Japan and other parts of Asia.

But this CNN article has a bit of actual news in it — the creators let drop the nugget that the English version of the manga would be out by the end of the year. This is interesting because while the series has gotten quite a bit of buzz, and even won a wine magazine’s award in France, this is the first anyone has heard of an English-language license.

Fans are happy. But will it materialize? Kami no Shizuku is published by Kodansha in Japan, which means the pool of possible licensees is pretty small, and the online speculation is that their U.S. subsidiary Kodansha USA may be the publisher. Of course, it’s also possible that this could be a British or Australian license, but even so, fans would be able to import it and read it in English. Bottoms up!